Tuesday, 11 October 2011

Easy running

Last week I posted that I would hopefully be going for a run with the local group on Thursday despite a little ankle pain. In fact, Pete wasn't home in time, so I decided to run on my own anyway. It was dark, so I thought I'd stick to residential streets which were more likely to be well-lit. I had a vague plan of where to run, but as I don't know the local area well-enough yet, I was prepared to divert away from dark roads.

I decided to do something a bit different from my usual runs. As it was 7.30pm, and I didn't have time for a long run, I would normally run about 3 miles (probably 3.1 just to make it 5k), and aim to go as fast as I could. In fact all my running recently has been based around going as fast as I can, and if my pace is significantly over 9 min/miles, I'm not happy. But on Thursday I thought 'What if I try and run slower? Maybe it'll help when I go longer?'

So I went for an easy, comfortable pace. It was a revelation! It was just soooo enjoyable! I ended up going a different way than I had planned, and had a good explore around an area I haven't been to before. Although it was dark, I investigated the sight of the town (a windmill!) and I felt so comfortable the whole time, I could have gone a lot further.

When I first started running and struggled to keep going for 5 minutes, I never could have imagined that I could find it so relaxing and comfortable.

I only ran 4 miles because it was late and I hadn't had dinner, so for the last mile, I decided to speed up and see how fast I could get home. My mile splits were like this: 9.30; 9.42; 9.43; 8.28.

I definitely plan to include more slow running, especially when I'm building my distance back up again. I need to look at the Garmin less and not worry about trying to run faster than 9min/miles for every mile. Why do I obsess over that all the time? Ridiculous. I can't overstate how much I enjoyed that run! (The ankle pain was ok, by the way).

Anyway, apart from that, it wasn't much of a high mileage week:
Ran: 10.3 miles
Cycled: 20.3 miles

We had my sister and her family to visit at the weekend, and ate loads of crap food, got through a few bottles of wine and stayed up too late, so I was impressed that I managed any sort of run at all on Sunday. I could only face 3 miles, hence no long run last week. More mileage to come this week!




















Our very own tourist attraction
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5 comments:

  1. Johann11 October 2011 at 13:54

    I run at a slower pace 90% of the time. Definitely the way to go. I also never look at my watch while running, not even during a race. I run how I feel.

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  2. Jill11 October 2011 at 20:56

    Long, slow runs really do help your legs recover faster, and oh how good they feel!!! Definitely the way to go when building mileage! Glad you had a great run and felt strong with no ankle pain - yay!!!

    The windmill is sooo pretty! Nothing like that here in Colorado.

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  3. ajh12 October 2011 at 01:21

    I run a slow pace most of the time. love how much you enjoyed it.

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  4. Char12 October 2011 at 02:12

    There's something to be said for running slower and having a good time. Case in point, my race on the weekend - I had such a great time. Garmins do make us way more numbers-focused and sometimes it's good to just get out and run by feel.

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  5. Average Woman Runner12 October 2011 at 04:13

    Nice run, indeed. I obsess about time too much too, which is one reason why I haven't bought a Garmin. I watch my clock & heart rate a lot and play with my paces to see how they affect my HR. A lot to be said for the fast runs & slow runs though - they feel good in different ways.

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